Cheetahs: A spotty record

Their prospects at Kuno appear dim, it is time to bring Gir lions there

Alok Tiwari

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Project Cheetah in 2022 it was on Sept 17 which, not coincidentally, was also his birthday. The prime minister was acutely aware of the importance of both events. “There was a time,” he bragged alluding to Pandit Nehru’s 65^th birthday celebration in 1954, “when pigeons used to be released on birthdays. Now it is cheetahs. The country is changing.” In hindsight, he should have given his desire to get the better of Nehru a pause.

We do not know what became of the sixty-five pigeons released in New Delhi back then, but the cheetahs brought to India are not faring very well. Two years on, the project is in tatters with not a single cheetah roaming in the wild in Kuno Palpur sanctuary of Madhya Pradesh. Not just that, the task of establishing a free ranging population of cheetahs is facing multiple challenges with no clear path towards progress. All the cheetahs are still in captivity with no timelines set for their release in wild.

Conservationists and experts in wilding of animals say the cheetahs in India may not be suitable for release in the wild anymore. Wild animals in captivity for more than three months rapidly lose their ability to survive in the wild. They are also not able to pass on the wild instincts and skills necessary for the task to their progeny. That is why some countries euthanize such animals than put them back in wild. Cheetahs in Kuno have been in captivity for much longer. Even though they have been breeding, their cubs would not be suitable for surviving in open forest.

Not just that, Kuno Palpur already has a good population of leopards, which are natives and adapted to the local environment. It does not even have sufficient prey base for both the species. There are about 6700 chitals, the primary prey of carnivores in Kuno. For a healthy and viable population of cheetahs and leopards to coexist, it needs more than four times that number. If there is shortage of prey, leopards and cheetahs will inevitably get into conflict. Faced with much stronger and better adapted leopards, cheetahs stand no chance. It is unbelievable this aspect was not thought of before introducing a foreign species into Kuno.

Then there are usual issues of human-animal conflict common to all wildlife areas of India. Even if some cheetahs do eventually survive in the wild, they might get into conflict with nearby human populations. It is already suspected that one of the free-ranging cheetahs Pawan was poisoned or otherwise injured as he was found drowned even though cheetahs are expert swimmers.

Government obviously is loath to admit the Project Cheetah has failed. Officials point to some months spent by individual cheetahs in the wild and breeding by some pairs as success. Cheetahs, being cats, are prolific breeders and are breeding in captivity in zoos across the world. So that means little. While some did spend months in the wild, it is a fact that they had to be recaptured. The degrading of their ability of survive in wild as they pass months in captivity is something the officials are not addressing.

They are also cagey about sharing information on the status of the individual animals or the project itself. Some RTI requests have been rejected on the grounds of national security! This lack of transparency leads to suspicion that things might be much worse than they appear. Even with available information, the project appears to have hit a dead end. With existing individuals fast becoming unsuitable for wilding, it is unlikely any country having wild cheetahs would give more to India given the spotty record.

Which brings us to the question as to why we need to bring cheetahs back to India. Of course, we had them once upon a time, but they were hunted to extinction. Moreover, they were different sub-species. Translocating a major carnivore is tricky in best of times. Doing so for an alien sub species in an alien surrounding is many times more difficult. So why do it? The real reason is to bury the other translocation project that nobody wants to talk about. That of Asiatic lions.

Kuno was actually prepared for lions from Gir landscape in Gujarat. However, despite multiple orders from even Supreme Court, Gujarat does not wish to part with its lions and thus lose its status as world’s only home of Asiatic lions. It has tried every trick in the book for more than two decades to avoid giving lions to MP. Its efforts naturally got a boost when Modi became prime minister.

But having an important species located in single place is fraught with risks. To better secure lions’ future, it is important that at least a second population be established at a reasonable distance. Kuno was ideal location for it. The lions, already adapted to Indian conditions, would have had a much better chance of survival than cheetahs. Being much smaller than lions, Kuno’s leopards would also not have posed much danger to them. Besides, lions in Gir are already used to living with large leopard population.

Gujarat’s vanity is clearly getting in the way of doing what is necessary for betterment of an iconic wildlife species of India. Asiatic lions once roamed everywhere in India and may do so again if Gujarat were to let go of them. It is time to give up the ill-conceived and poorly managed Project Cheetah and bring lions to Kuno. Modi and BJP have long preached putting country’s interest above individuals. The party is not only in power at the Centre but also in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Now is the time for both to walk the talk. Maybe, the country can march to even more greatness by releasing lions in Kuno on Modi’s next birthday.

This column appeared in Lokmat Times on Oct 2, 2024